KSAFA All-Stars clip Manchester Lions 1-0 to retain JFF/SportsMax Elite League title
Defending champions Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) All-Stars retained their title with a 1-0 win over Manchester Lions in the 2018 Jamaica Football Association (JFF)/SportsMax Under-18 Elite League football final at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Sunday.
The all-important goal was scored in the second minute of play by KSAFA All-Stars’ Shaniel Thomas, his seventh goal in the competition.
The win also saw KSAFA All-Stars being handed a cheque of $500,000, the Championship Trophy, along with individual gold medals.
Beaten finalist Manchester Lions collected $200,000 and silver medals, while the two losing semi-finalists, Clarendon Galaxy and St Catherine Saints, each received $100,000.
Meanwhile, winning coach of KSAFA All-Stars, Raymond Watson, said he was happy for everyone associated with the team for winning the competition a second-straight year.
Watson, who was not the head coach when KSAFA All-Stars lost 0-1 to St Catherine Saints in their opening match of the season, said he thought that game was much tougher than Sunday’s final.
“We dominated the entire game, and the team should have won by a much wider margin; as they created the scoring opportunities — especially in the first half — but failed to convert them into goals,” Watson said.
Watson said the Lions are a quality team but they allowed KSAFA All-Stars to control the game from the outset. “It was only in the last 10 minutes that the Lions looked threatening to score and began pressuring KSAFA’s defence as we made a wrong substitution…”
KSAFA All-Stars took the lead when midfielder Tyreke Magee played a defence-splitting through pass to Thomas, who unleashed a low left-footed grounder past the diving Shamar Forbes into the goal.
Ajay Chin and Marlando Maxwell were the most dangerous players for the Lions, and they kept the All-Stars defenders busy, but on the few occasions sthat they were able to get beyond the defence, goalkeeper Jeadine White proved their master.
The All-Stars maintained control of the game but lacked the decisiveness in the final third to increase their lead and run out bigger victors.
